Action 9 helps Orange County woman who says scammers were stealing her mail

ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orange County woman’s mail was stolen and she claims scammers had changed her address to steal her identity. When the post office told her it couldn't do anything about it, she contacted Action 9. Consumer investigator Todd Ulrich got results, and shows how to protect your mail.

“Did you stop getting your mail?” asked Ulrich.

“Yes,” replied Jane Marie Raley.

“Now alarm bells are going off?” asked Ulrich.

“Very clearly,” said Raley. She had not changed her address but her mail carrier confirmed somebody had redirected her mail by pretending to be her online and filled out the U.S. Postal Service forwarding request.

Raley couldn’t believe what happened at the Alafaya Station Post Office near her home, when she told them about the missing mail. “I was told there was nothing I could do to get my mail back,” she said.

“Your mail, with your photo ID?” asked Ulrich.

“Correct,” said Raley.

Raley said a manager told her it could not be done in person. She had to fill out a form. But that required entering the forwarding address, which of course she didn't have, since it was a fake address-forwarding request. “It was like living a bad dream.”

A post office employee also told Raley to call an 800 number that led to the postal inspector’s email. Then she was told to expect a call back in 24 hours.

“Did you ever get that phone call?” Ulrich asked Raley.

“No. I had sent an email marked mail fraud and was supposed to be called back,” she said.

By the time Raley contacted Action 9, her mail had been fraudulently forwarded for two weeks. That was plenty of time for scammers to steal her identity and apply for credit cards.

Raley is a past victim of an IRS refund scam and is braced for the worst. “They've got everything they need to create all kinds of havoc,” said Raley.

Ulrich contacted the U.S. Postal Inspector's Office. Twenty-four hours later, it stopped the forwarding, and the staff is investigating who stole it. Managers said the local post office failed to properly handle her complaint.

“And you couldn't stop that forwarding in person with all your information?” asked Ulrich.

Raley said, “No, no, not at all.”

Raley discovered her mail was being sent to a Houston address.

The U.S. Postal Inspector’s Office says it’s important to report any suspicious delivery delays right away. And yes, your local post office can and should flag your account right away.

The U.S. Postal Service's written response:

"The U.S. Postal Service considers the security and sanctity of mail as one of its highest priorities. Last year nearly 37 million change-of-address requests were processed. The rate of suspicious transactions reported by customers is less than 1/10 of 1 percent and many of the complaints are determined not to be related to fraud. A number of these complaints can be traced to domestic or other disputes between families and friends, who have access as a result of their relationship to information which allows one to forward mail. Still others can be attributed to service-related issues.

"The Postal Service continuously implements security enhancements, though not seen by the general public, to enhance the security of our change of address process. These options are assessed to determine the best alternatives to protect the needs of our customers.

"Customers are encouraged to monitor the receipt of their mail, by retrieving it daily from the mailbox or through our Informed Delivery feature now online. Any suspicious activity, or non-receipt of mail over a couple days should be reported to their local post office."

Cox Media Group